C.W. Post fundraising for $4.5M stadium

The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University is fundraising to build a $4.5 million stadium that will house 4,500 spectators for its NCAA Division II sports ranging from football to lacrosse and field hockey.

The Brookville university launched what it called its “Pioneer Spirit Campaign” to attract corporate, philanthropic and alumni support to rebuild the stadium. The new facility would replace Hickox field.

Provost Paul Forestell said the stadium would provide Post “students and the campus community with superior athletic and recreational opportunities.”

Post hopes to obtain a $1.5 million naming gift and another $1.5 million from alumni, corporate sponsors and others. It will pony up the remaining $1.5 million itself.

The school, which is a nonprofit, said the stadium also would be used for commencement, homecoming and family day ceremonies as well as regional high school championship games and other large community gatherings.

This would be the latest step in Post’s modernization of its athletic facilities, including the stadium itself.

Post in 2006 at Hickox field installed FieldTurf, an artificial surface, which would remain part of the new stadium.

The track also will be removed as part of the project, which will include new seating, a press box, landscaping and an entry plaza.

The new stadium will be built near the 77,000-square-foot Jeanette and Edmund T. Pratt Jr. Recreation Center, which Post opened in 2002.

Pratt Recreation Center structure includes a 3,000-seat basketball court as well as the headquarters of the athletic department.